From an AFT press release:
CHICAGO—Teachers and staff in the one of city’s largest charter school networks overwhelmingly have chosen the Chicago Alliance of Charter School Teachers and Staff (Chicago ACTS), an affiliate of the 1.5 million-member American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, as their bargaining agent.
The decision involves more than 400 teachers and staff in 13 schools operated by the United Neighborhood Organization. In March, UNO and the AFT reached a neutrality agreement under which UNO agreed not to take a position on whether its teachers and staff organized. Some 87 percent of the 415 workers who voted approved Chicago ACTS as their bargaining agent.
The decision by UNO employees to join Chicago ACTS means that more than 20 percent of Chicago’s charter school teachers and staff are now unionized—the highest union density where charter school employees do not automatically have a union.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is an AFT announcement I like!
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On May Day, no less! We need to remember previous generations increased living standards not by “competing in the global marketplace,” but by banding together.
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Hmm…
“Just do what we say, AFT leadership, and we’ll let our charter school teachers join your union. Think of the dues…”
Seems kind of win/win, as the privatizers pulling the union’s strings will continue to do so after the fact. What resistance will the new union really present to the owners if it’s an affiliate of a larger union that’s already in their pocket?
Hypothetically speaking, of course.
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Got my antennae up, too.
“Something smells rotten in the state of Denmark”
Sorry, folks. Wish I wasn’t so jaded, but I smell a rat, here.
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@Ron Poirier @gitapik
Aw, come on, guys! What’s the evidence that we’re in the AFT’s pocket? There’re no rats here, nothing’s rotten. We’re teachers! (I’m on my lunch break!)
What resistance will the our union really present to UNO management? I dunno’. Hopefully a lot. But we’re not going to be able to do as much when people who should be our allies are running around baselessly accusing our accomplishments of being some corporate-engineered fraud.
Dang!
In unity,
Brian Harris
President, Chicago ACTS
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You’ll have time to prove yourself, Brian. Meanwhile I’d advise you to watch out for the AFT and their leadership.
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You do have a point, Brian. I’m glad you said that. Positive energy is contagious. As I said: wish I wasn’t so jaded. It’s not my natural demeanor.
If only 10% of the charter schools are unionized, there’s a chance that this is an actual grass roots movement. No big advertising campaign. We need to embrace that.
It’s been a difficult decade plus.
I’ve only recently started to see evidence that part of our union’s problems may be due to our leadership. It’s not so much that we’re wondering about whether you’re in the AFT’s pocket as to whether someone’s lining that pocket.
The question often comes down to how much compromise is truly necessary.
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Thank You UNO teachers. Now the beginning of their crumble. The last thing these people want is to have to deal with a union instead of individual employees without backup.
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Hah…that’s good
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If charter schools are not public schools, as Diane has argued here, then they are private schools, and there may be some justification for the teachers to organize to protect their jobs, but I suspect there is massive cooption here. Did anyone say “company union” despite its AFT affiliation. Interesting development, though.
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I agree
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Harlan, I’m siding (I believe I am . . . ) with you on this one.
I value unions all the way, but only when unions behave like unions. If I were working for a charter OR a public school, I would be very suspicious of the AFT’s leadership and direction, and I would be inclined to think that MY dues would be used to keep the union in business more than keep it operating to protect my profession.
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How do union leader salaries compare with TFA leader salaries or charter school CEO salaries?
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Diane,
PBS has partnered with InBloom.
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/partners/
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So getting rid of unions wasn’t really the plan after all. It was just transferring tax dollars to privately backed charters? Is that why unions haven’t fought hard enough on these reforms? The unions don’t actually lose out.
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Union leadership doesn’t lose out. The rank and file do.
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Put perfectly, Ron.
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Congrats UNO teachers! We are currently working towards to same thing.
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I just read Krugman so I’m inspired to chime in about the macro- and micro-strategy for the unions facing charter school growth.
The first assumption is that the unions do not have the political power to put the genie back in the bottle. A strategy of holding their breath and stomping around screaming No No No is just what it sounds like it is….childish.
So on the macro level what the unions can do is scream about making barriers to entry higher through higher standards on operational and educational quality. At the same time they can demand accountability to close the corrupt and/or underperformers at a higher rate.
On the micro level they have to organize into the individual schools or chains that aren’t going away anytime soon. The decisions here sometimes go crossways with the macro considerations because a corruption investigation can come at any time & mess with the best laid plans for an organizing drive at any individual school.
I know that many union leaders and purist rank and file union members want the perfect solution but time machines going back to 1994 don’t exist.
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About 90% of charters are non-union. There are about 6,000 now.
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